The question however is, what (if any) form is worthwhile having or is what we have worth keeping.

I ask this because we are now traveling in some of the Earth,s most unforgiving environments where consensus democracy is just beginning to take hold.

We are entering a period in the world thanks to Social Media where old grudges are arising to the surface and are now threatening to destabilize world peace.

We are also entering a biomedical and silicon society with the recombinant DNA enabling the manipulation of life as its genetic essence.

Physics and Math with the help of computer power is not only revealing how the world works but how the Universe was formed with magnificent and dangerous ways to exploit it.

Perhaps because we are the invasive species of all it’s time we have to ask ourselves is Science and the game changing technology collaborating to destroy democracy or enhance it.

Is it still true to say:

Compared to dictatorships, oligarchies, monarchies and aristocracies, in which the people have little or no say in who is elected and how the government is run, a democracy is often said to be the most challenging form of government, as input from those representing citizens determines the direction of the country. The basic definition of democracy in its purest form comes from the Greek language: The term means “rule by the people.” But democracy is defined in many ways — a fact that has caused much disagreement among those leading various democracies as to how best to run one.

Our governments have made education a chain and ball of debt that locks the mind into materialism.

Instead of looking after their citizens they put ( under the miss comprehension that growth will cure-all ) the Economy first when they should be hanging their heads in shame when one citizen through no fault of his or her own lives life and died in poverty.

There is little point in maintaining a nuclear deterrent if you have to live out you life on the bread line. What’s the point if you all but wiped out before the button is pressed.

I recently visited Singapore Zoo. The youngest zoo in the world.

It sported a simulated Rainforest, a tropical Polar Bear and hundred of school children which will never see any of the Zoo residents in the wild. I could not shake the feeling that I was looking at our feeble attempts to show what was left of values. Perhaps it is because I was seeing a generation becoming bereft of connection to nature.

The caused of our separation from all these things pervade every aspect of our lives.

The rise of personal computer in the form of smart phones solely promoting free-market capitalism rather than equality, and values that count.

Most of us in the west are crying to have our needs met, and eventually adapting to them not being met. Perhaps such an upbringing is necessary in our cultural democracy contex. We are prepared from birth for a competitive dog-eat-dog economy. That expresses itself in greed by the continuing the imperative need to convert all natural and social into money.

All aspects of our present day democratic culture conspire to strip us of our connection and belongingness.

An Internet of everything that most impertantly is a metaphysics that tells us that we are discrete, separate selves in a universe of others.

As this world of separation crumbles so will Democracy.

Because of the atmosphere of scarcity is everywhere everything must change.

To appreciate the sweep of change and magnitude you only have to look at Climate change (perhaps its time to put a monetary value on the sky and people will not treat it like a free dump.) and the billions being spent by the Candidates for the President of the USA.

Ted Cruz $65 million

Mareo Rubio $ 17 million

Jeb Bush $104 million

Ben Carson $39 million

Chris Christie $19 million

Donal Trump $6 Million

Hillary Clinton $100 million

Bernie Sanders $42 million

They are transforming modern-day American democracy into a form of theater and television ads. The correlation between big money has condensed democracy into buzzwords, glitz, the main currencies attracting attention on our television screens.

With the wealth of the 62 richest people in the word now standing at over $2 trillion which is the cumulative worth of the poor half of the world population we have Google, Facebook, Twitter and other Corporate giants building technologies with artificial neurons that can learn on their own.

These may in time exhibit intelligent behaviours virtually indistinguishable from those of its human masters.

The question is longer what phone should I get? It’s what ecosystem should I join if any as they could all become the same.

Privacy is going out the window.

There are vats of coli bacteria churning out medical insulin, plastic polymers and food additives that might go where they are not wanted.

Limited world resources and being snapped up by sovereign wealth funds and hedge funds.

Algorithms buy and sell share and currencies making a mockery of the stock exchange.

Fusion power is light years away.

Not everybody is happy with the high-tech changes.

The Web is weakened the foundation principles of Democracy or if not reshaping them.

Our World Organisation are out of date, setting in motion a sequence of events that will change the history of life which is one contingent tale, liable to be rerouted at anytime. ( See previous posts)

We left with the question can capitalism Democracy deliver change.

Not on its own as it is based on greed, power, corruption, non transparency, taxies, to name just a few of its ticking cogs. God forbid its is left down to this man.

There is only one way we can achieve a better world.

Scrap the United Nations which has become a begging Organisation of worthless resolutions.

Replace it with a World Aid Organisation that is financed by Capitalism with a 0.05% world aid commission on all High Frequency Trading, on all Foreign Exchange Transactions (over $20,000) and on all Sovereign Wealth Funds Acquisitions.

This would create an Organisation with genuine clout and save Democracy.

I hope this blog will awaken those who are not already conscious. All comments welcome.

Is it because we can’t handle the truth or is it because religious beliefs are dying in a world driven by materialism.

Most people would have a difficult time telling you, specifically, what the values are that they live by.

They have never given the matter much thought.They would probably, in the end, decide not to answer in terms of a definitive list of values.

The reason for this decision is itself one very modern-day value—their belief that every individual is so unique that the same list of values could never be applied to all, or even most, of their fellow citizens.

“I personally chose which values I want to live my own life by.”

Wrong! Because the different behaviors of a people or a culture make sense only when seen through the basic beliefs, assumptions and values of that particular group.

For example Americans firmly believe that no adult would ever want, even temporarily, to be dependent on another.

There is no arguing that values in society, has dramatically dropped over the past 20 to 30 years. If you look around it is obvious why it is happening.

Technology is reshaping our values.

All worthy things are under attack.

When you look at our current world it seems that the lessons of history count for sweet f .. k all.

Donald Trump peddling another fantasy other than the decline of the United States. ( He appears to think that the solution to everything is a deal.) Money helps but better quality of life is critical if we are to have a peaceful equitable world. Just imagine a self-made US president, a self-appointed Putin, and North Korean Dictator and ISIS making a deal.

It’s no wonder that the values in society, have dramatically dropped over the past 20 to 30 years.

It’s been proven for a long time now that you get what you give.

The world to-day has about 25% connected people. The rest are not so connected but Google Fied, Apple strapped, Facebooked with Twittered with the Internet of Everything. I am Nnot saying that the unconnected are bad or otherwise but they just do not get it through the values they were taught in Schools and Universities who educate for the sake of the Free Market, rather than managing a World that is running out of resources such as fresh water, clean air.

They will never see through the veil of smart phone and selfies to what their possibilities in life are.

It’s a really powerful time, but no one seems to know where we’re at. The majority of the media feed us unadulterated crap, sensualization, while governments pay homage to trade deals and GDP with people sleeping on the streets.

People walk around whining into their smart phones, like relentless strivers living in a gray zone of reality. While the devastation of our world continues for profit at any cost, driving us all to extremes.

This is why we must place an World Aid commission of 0.05% on all High Frequency Trading, on all Foreign Exchange transactions over 20,000$ on all Sovereign Wealth Funds Acquisitions if we have any chance of changing direction. ( See previous posts)

Planting a seed today may make many benefits in the future for someone.

The values of giving, sharing, loving, are the values that should be reflected in all you say, do or speak.

Its time to get smart.

To create a new world Organisation that has survival at its heart funded by Capitalism.

The World faces a range of terrifying crises from the threat of climate change to terrorist breeding grounds.

The question is what if anything is our world organisation the United Nations doing about it other than showing its true colour as a failed Organisation which is in need of radical reform or total replacement.

The organisation is now a black hole into which thousands of taxpayers money along with human aspirations disappear to be never seen again.

We all know that it has turned into a farce with no accountability and manifestly incompetent in the light of new technology the current situation it finds its self in is in dire need of fresh thinking.

If you look closely there are few countries willing to commit troop to peacekeeping duties. these days the deployment of troops only adds to the problems of a country and do not address the creation of stable and democratic institutions.

Example are abundant in recent years – Mali, Haiti,

United nations troops know nothing about counterterrorism and are under explicit instructions not to engage in it. They lumber along without any clear goals or exit plan diverting attention from deeper socioeconomic problems, crowding out governments, costing billions, with the unnecessary lost of lives.

Soon there is be the election of a new Secretary General.

Its time for all its members not just the permanent members of the security council to evaluate just what they want out of the United Nations.

The organisation is a Remington typewriter in a smart phone world.

If it is going to advance the cause of peace, human rights, development, and climate it needs a leader genuinely committed to reform.

Perhaps it is time for it to merge with Nato. One way or the other we need more than ever a World Organisation that is led by people for ” whom doing the right thing is normal and expected.

IF THE WORLD IS TO HAVE ANY HOPE AND WE THAT LIVE IN IT ARE TO PASS THE MANTLE OF EQUALITY OF LIFE BEFORE GREED DEVOURS US ALL WE HAVE TO STOP EVOLVING DEMOCRACY BECAUSE OTHER PEOPLE SHARE THE BLAME AND MAKE CAPITALISM PAY RATHER THAN EXPLOITING. (SEE PREVIOUS POSTS)

Like this:

Just back from a month’s visit to the Land of the Long white Cloud- New Zealand.

It has been over a quarter of a century since my last visit which then included South Island unlike this trip spent exclusively in North Island.

Over four hundred years before Christopher Columbus and the rest of Europe worried about falling off the edge of the world; Maori people voyaged thousands of miles across the vast unknown Pacific Ocean in small ocean-going canoes and became the first inhabitants of Aotearoa New Zealand.

Unfortunately they sold it for a few glass beads.

To this day, even though there is not one true Maori left their culture is a core part of New Zealand’s national identity.

New Zealand has become a melting-pot population, all living within a Maori Reservation as New Zealand’s coast line is now claimed by the Maori along with all the air above.

Since before Sir Ernest Rutherford ‘split’ the atom early in the twentieth century, Kiwis have been discovering and inventing things.

While frozen meat, the Hamilton Jet boat, and the bungy jump are probably the most famous Kiwi inventions, there are many others. New Zealanders are also responsible for the tranquilliser gun, seismic ‘base’ isolators (rubber and lead blocks which minimise earthquake damage), electric fences, the fastest motorbike in the world, freezer vacuum pumps, stamp vending machines, wide-toothed shearing combs, and the electronic petrol pump – to name a few!

Not to mention the All Blacks the scourge of Northern hemisphere rugby with their secret line out call of throw it in Bro.

They also continue to dominate on the world yachting, kayaking, windsurfing and rowing scene.

Mateship’ — become a prized social value.

To New Zealanders, their big brother across the Tasman Sea in Australia was always brash and exciting. The Kiwis have traditionally flocked west in vast numbers lured by well-paid jobs not so these days. New Zealand has the second-largest diaspora in the world, with well over a million Kiwis living offshore.

For those of you who might be thinking of dropping in on New Zealand there are a few of my unscientific observations.

You’ll get an idea of how carefully they protect their environment from the strict biosecurity restrictions on what you can bring in to New Zealand when you land at the airport.

So, what can you expect?

Well, if you’ve seen The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, The Narnia Chronicles or The Piano, you’ll have an idea: soaring mountainscapes, mysterious lakes and rivers, dramatic volcanic plateaus, vast open plains, braided rivers, thermal wonderlands, fiords, native forests, glaciers, miles of farmland and even more miles of glorious coastline with gorgeous sandy beaches…. all that sort of thing.

However driving around the North Island at a speed limit of 100k it is polluted by unnecessary traffic signs and billboards by the thousands with Fast food outlets every 50k.

Has much changed ?

After two years, $17 million, and more than 10,000 design submissions, voters kept the old flag.

Here above were a few of the contenders. My favorite is the Kiwi with the rainbow out of its arse which perhaps on reflection should be a sheep.

New Zealand remains a country where you are asked a thousand times a day if you like the country. Why? because it’s a form of reassurance or if you like a frantic exercise of national belly- button studying.

When I say not much has changed I am overlooking the fact that Auckland is in the process of expansion not upwards but along the coast causing massive tailbacks in and out of the city due to long overdue road works.

Geographically, over three-quarters of the population live in the North Island, with one-third of the total population living in Auckland. At the heart of the Kiwi recovery is the construction boom in Auckland and post-earthquake in Christchurch.

As a result for the moment it is some what hypocritical of New Zealand to present itself as a pristine country that sprays its arrivals with an unknown substance before landing.

Not to worry as New Zealand to-day is a land without the true sense of leisure or sense of the ridiculous.

Show biz hardly exist outside a few pop groups. Restaurants are poor by oversee standards, bars and pubs have lost their pioneering ambiance and are now lost as social centers.

The home is the focus of the nation’s life. They’re so expensive they don’t want to leave them. They are the Kiwi Mistress not his Castle. The price of housing (which remains for the best part a version of upmarket chantie houses constructed of wood with galvanized roofs) is outrageous.

The country is a vast network of obligations and owed visits.

An x Vietnam veteran summed up the process of assimilation into the New Zealand culture when he informed me it was as simple as studying the phone book for five days.

Verbal communication is still some what a luxury. This is a physical country and words neither do things or mend cars. The good New Zilder speaks like a ventriloquist with out a dummy. They never use two syllables where one will do.

Kiwis that is young one seem to be in a state of relentless movement. They are hard works for themselves but spend the rest of the week recovering while in the office. Indeed if there were holdings pins at the entrance to heaven the Kiwi pin would be full of on the spot Joggers.

In the five and a half week of extensively exploring north Island world politics or for that matter home politics was rarely discussed.

It seems that politics is best compared with the septic tank. Septic tanks have an tradition: they are plumbed in with the house. They have no elegance and on wit, thought you may get the occasional gurgle. You don’t talk much about septic tanks. They burble along nicely with a triennial overhaul. Yet they do serve a certain purpose.

With the Mäori population projected to grow to 810,000 or 16.2 per cent of the population by 2026,a nation is not a true nation if it is not accepted and realised as one.

The Treaty of Waitangi is the founding document of New Zealand and there are legislative mechanisms in place to protect the principles of the Treaty and the rights of Mäori as Indigenous people. New Zealand’s history since the signing of the Treaty has been marked by repeated failures to honour these founding promises.

In practice, the level of recognition and protection varies. In my view it is vitally important to the future of New Zealand that all groups in the community engage with the Treaty.

Watch this Space.

Not to be disingenuous New Zealand still remain the closest to paradise as any non Catholic nation is allowed to go. A multitude of minor pleasures if only they could stop the rush to change New Zealand. The trinity of the Dairy Board, the Meat Board and the Wool Board is long dead.

There is no doubt we leave something of ourselves behind when you visit new Zealand. We stay there even though we go away. And there are things in us that we can find again only by going back there.

Selfies is not the way to build a nation.

New Zealand is still as near to a people’s paradise as fallible humanity. It is likely to get even more some if its Air hostess are given early retirement.